Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant is a largely residential, densely-populated
neighborhood in north-central Brooklyn replete with historic
brownstones, apartment buildings, and several sets of high-rise public
housing towers.
Residents remember it as a calmer, safer community before the 1970s,
when it was devastated by race riots and, later, an epidemic of drugs
and violence. Now residents say it has turned a corner. Homes here
were once seized by the city and sold for pennies on the dollar, but
more recently, some brownstones have fetched nearly $1 million. New
restaurants have cropped up to complement a plethora of bodegas and
discount shops.
Bedford-Stuyvesant still has significant needs: violence, poverty,
lack of access to healthy food, and a dearth of affordable housing
remain real problems. But its intense and growing community pride is
hard to miss.
